


The Mysterious Checkered Thief

by Matlock_26th



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Phantom Thief, F/M, Kokichi has a cat, M/M, Mentioned Pre-Story Character Deaths, Phantom Thief AU, Phantom Thief Oma Kokichi, Thief Oma Kokichi, oma not ouma, phantom thief
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25196698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Matlock_26th/pseuds/Matlock_26th
Summary: (Based on Kokichi's Love Hotel event.)The young detective Saihara Shuichi is hot on the heels of a mysterious thief who's been spotted across Japan and identified only by his signature checkered scarf.  Little does Shuichi know, said thief is his strange new roommate, Oma Kokichi.
Relationships: Harukawa Maki & Momota Kaito, Harukawa Maki & Momota Kaito & Saihara Shuichi, Harukawa Maki & Saihara Shuichi, Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, Momota Kaito & Saihara Shuichi, Oma Kokichi & DICE, Oma Kokichi & Saihara Shuichi, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 90





	1. A Roommate in my First Chapter? It's More Likely Than You Think.

The sun's early morning rays peered through the apartment blinds, waking up Checkers, a small black and white short-haired cat, with a checkerboard silk bandana around her neck and bright saffron eyes. She quickly stretched before shooting through the house like a bullet and springing onto Kokichi's face and loudly meowing in his ear. Kokichi pried Checkers off of his face and yawned. "Be a little quieter or we'll get noise complaints." He said, scratching Checkers behind her ear. He got up and left his room, Checkers close at his heels, and went into the kitchen. The cat hopped up onto the counter and watched Kokichi closely as he prepared breakfast. "You have food, Checkers, you don't need mine." 

As he sat down and started eating, Kokichi noticed a sloppily written note on the calender. 'Roommate' was all it read. He tried to think about who the roommate was but quickly realized that he'd totaly forgotten. "Hey, Checkers, do you know who the calender's talking about?" He asked. Checkers just mewed quietly before trying to steal Kokichi's food again. He carefully pushed her away along with the worries that were starting to fill his mind as he reread the note. "I hope they're nice." 

—•—

Kokichi jumped as he heard a knock on the door. He quickly put away the game of solitaire he was playing and hurried over, opening it slightly. "Um, hi?" He said quietly. On the other side of the door was a young man, about his age, but taller then him, not that that was particularly impressive. Kokichi was only 5' 1", after all. He had on a black trenchcoat over a white button up shirt and black dress pants and he wore a black baseball cap which cast a shadow over his eyes. Kokichi recognized him as the detective that had been all over the news lately, Saihara Shuichi. Kokichi froze. Shuichi was the detective in charge of investigating a string of thefts across Japan. Thefts that _Kokichi_ had commited.

"Hello." Shuichi said. "Oma Kokichi, right?" 

"Yes, sir." Kokichi said quietly. "Have I done something wrong?" 

"'Something wrong'?" He repeated, sounding confused.

"You're Detective Saihara, why would you be here if I hadn't?" 

"You're certainly quite paranoid. Did something happen?" 

"N-no!" Kokichi yelped. Shuichi quietly laughed. "Sorry!" 

"Why are you apologizing?" 

"Oh, um..." Kokichi fell silent, unsure of _why_ he _was_ apologizing. 

"Don't worry about it." He smiled and, for a split second, Kokichi's fear faded. "Actually, I'm going to be your roommate." 

"I _did_ have a note about getting a roommate." Kokichi said quietly. He froze again as the words sunk in. "W-wait, y-you're going to be _my_ roommate?" He backed up slightly before collapsing from the shock. 

Shuichi rushed to his side. "Are you okay?!" He asked, worried. Kokichi didn't answer, he just closed his eyes and hoped it was just a bad dream, but Shuichi stayed next to him. 

"Ah!" Kokichi opened his eyes, blushing slightly, as he felt Shuichi gently grab his hand.

"Your ring..." Shuichi started, causing Kokichi to freeze up again. He had forgetten to take it off and hide it before answering the door. "Where did you get it?" 

_"He knows!"_ Kokichi thought, nervously, though he kept his composure. "Oh, do you like it?" 

"It's less of that and, more of the fact it looks _exactly_ like a ring that was stolen a couple months ago." 

"Oh, right." Kokichi said. "It's a replica I had made for me last year." He lied.

"Well, whoever made it did an amazing job." Shuichi let go of Kokichi's hand and Kokichi quietly let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. 

"You should go get your stuff, I'll clean up quickly." Shuichi nodded and left. Kokichi instantly sprang up and rushed to his room. He took the small jewelry box he had closed with a diary lock and hid it, it contained his infamous checkered scarf, afterall. He then started cleaning up the room he had been using to store boxes of various things from silly blueprints to real blueprints to maps of museums and art galleries. He moved the boxes to his room, not caring that they covered most of it, and erased the notes on his whiteboard, leaving Shuichi's picture up. To make it less weird, he wrote a quick note about his initial thoughts on Shuichi, leaving out anything that pointed to him as the phantom thief. He then hurried back to the living room before promptly tripping over his own feet. He closed his eyes and let out a quiet squeak but never hit the ground. Instead, he found himself in Shuichi's arms. 

"You should really be more careful." Shuichi said as Kokichi steadied himself. "I don't want you getting hurt. I have enough to worry about as is." He smiled kindly and Kokichi found himself blushing slightly.


	2. Maki Roll and Shumai: Nicknames from Purple-Haired People

Shuichi collapsed onto the floor, tired from setting everything up. "Shuichi-chan!~" Kokichi said energetically, plopping down on the floor in front of Shuichi. "I'm bored, do you want to play with me?"

Shuichi looked at Kokichi in confusion. He was smiling happily as he awaited an answer. "What do you mean?" 

Kokichi's smile became devilish with a hint of lust. "I've always wanted to be tied up by a detective." He said, moving closer to Shuichi until he was sitting on his lap, their faces close together. "I'd be so helpless and you could do _whatever you_ _wanted_ to me." 

" _Kokichi_ —!" He started before being interrupted. 

"Just kidding!~" Kokichi said, though he didn't get off Shuichi for several more seconds. "I'm really good at card games." 

_"He didn't_ sound _or_ look _like he was kidding."_ Shuichi thought. "Okay, what about Go Fish?" 

Kokichi sprang up. "Alrighty!" He sprinted off and came back with a deck of cards and started shuffling them. He dealt the cards without saying a word and as the game started, Shuichi realized just how good Kokichi would be at poker. He smiled the whole time, even when he had to draw to a card. His smile never got bigger and it never faltered, you'd never be able to tell if his hand was good or bad. Of course, Shuichi didn't know anything about poker se might have been terribly wrong. They stopped their game when a sudden knock echoed through the apartment. "I'll get it!" Kokichi jumped to his feet and dashed out of the room and Shuichi sighed before standing up and following at a brisk walk. When he got to the living room he saw Kokichi awkwardly talking to two people. These people being Kaito and Maki, Shuichi's friends. 

"Hey, Shuichi!" Kaito said with a wave. "There you are! We were just talking about you." 

"You were?" 

"Don't listen to him." Maki said, exasperated. "We just asked where you were." 

"Oh come on, Maki Roll, that's still considered talking about him." 

Kokichi picked up Checkers and walked closer to Shuichi. "Are these your friends, Shumai?~" 

Shuchi nodded. "Yeah. That's Kaito and that's Maki. Kait, Maki, this is Oma Kokichi." He said. "Kaito's and astronaut and I'm not sure what Maki does but whatever it is, she's supposedly really good at it." 

"Sounds suspicious." Kokichi said before adding in a devilish tone with a matching grin "Shouldn't you investigate something so suspicious, _dear detective_?~" The way he said the words 'dear detective' felt oddly personal, like they were more than just a childish joke like everything else. Especially when he said 'dear'. 

"It seems that you've become a baby sitter." Maki said, looking at Kokichi with mild irritation. Shuichi glanced down at Kokichi who was now leaning against him, petting Checkers as he watched the trio of friends closely. 

"I suppose you could say that..." Shuichi muttered. 

"Well, don't expect me to help you keep that asshole under control." Maki said. 

"Maki Roll..." Kaito sighed. "Don't worry, Shuichi, Maki's probably just tired. There's no way Oma's as much of a pest as Maki's saying so don't let get to y—" 

"Nope!" Kokichi cut in. "I'm just as bad as she thinks. Actually, I'm probably waaaay worse!" 

"Huh?" Kaito seemed a little startled.

"Yeah! I'm toootally _evil_ so you better watch out, Shuichi!" He grinned in the most disarming way possible, as if to counter his own point. "In fact, I'll prove to you how evil I am right here and now!" He placed Checkers down and walked a few steps closer to Kaito and Maki, his face suddenly brimming with malice in a way that seemed... _inhuman_. "I'll cut you up and feed you to Checkers, Momota. It'll be so fast that you won't even know how I did it. So I'll tell you how I'll do it." His face became creepier, making him look less like a short purple-paired boy in a black and white sweater that was too big for him, and more like a possessed porcelain doll masquerading as a human by wearing a suit of dead-white skin. "I'm going to cut you into little tiny chunks with this knife I have..." He reached into a pocket in his over-sized pants. "And _slash_! You'll be dead—!" He suddenly found himself barely able to touch the floor as Maki tightened her grip around his neck. Kokichi's pale thin fingers tried to pried her hand away and failed. 

"Maki!" Kaito and Shuichi yelled at the same time. 

"Relax..." Kokichi choked out, his voice raspy from his oxygen and blood being slowly cut off. "It was..." He gasped for air. "A joke..." He looked like he was about to faint when Maki suddenly let go. Kaito and Shuichi both sighed with relief as Kokichi sat on the floor, gasping for breath, on hand gently against his neck as he tried to make sure he had a pulse still. 

"That wasn't a funny joke. The next time you threaten to kill Kaito, the only thing keeping you alive with be these two idiots, so you better hope they help you." 

"Hey, Maki Roll, chill out a bit. I was totally fine." Kaito said. 

"You clearly believed him." 

"Yeah, Kaito, you clearly believed him." Shuichi chimed in before turning his attention to Kokichi. He pulled him closer and examined his neck. "Are you okay? I can see Maki's hand print on your neck." Kokichi nodded slightly but was clearly shaken up. A few tears rolled down his cheeks but he quickly wiped them away. He smiled brightly and got up. 

"Now that we've had _that_ bonding experience, how about we watch a TV show or something?" He suggested. The other three agreed and Kokichi turned on the small TV in their small living room. "Any suggestions?" He asked but didn't actually listen to any suggestions and just turned the TV onto a channel that was currently showing one of those hidden camera shows. 

"A hidden camera show, huh?" Shuichi commented. "You didn't strike me as the type." 

Kokichi shrugged. "What can I say? I like watching people question their morals. I also like watch people try to steal things and fail." He went into his room as he spoke but quickly came back, tying a lavender and plum striped scarf around his neck to hide the handprint. "I could do _so much better_." Then, without any warning or explanation, Kokichi flopped down onto the chair Shuichi was in, laying across his lap like a cat, just far more annoying and heavy than one. 

"Hey, Kokichi!" 

"Don't look at me." Maki said. "I already told you I'm going to help you babysit him." 

"I'm with Maki Roll on this one, he's yours to deal with Shuichi." Kaito said, unhelpfully. 

"Kokichi." Maki said, causing the boy to jump. "You said you could do better than the thieves you see in shows." She seemed genuinely curious and, honestly, so was Shuichi. But that might've just been from the fact he was currently investing several thefts. 

"Well, if _I_ were a thief— which I'm not— I would be caught. Especially not by some boring TV guys." Kokichi said. "Besides, if I _were_ to get caught. It would be on purpose and by a cute detective who'd tie me up." He winked at Shuichi, causing the latter to blush slightly. "Ooh! Did you see that? Saihara-chan gets flustered so easily!~ I might just try something else just to see how he reacts." 

"You j-jerk!" Shuichi snapped, though he was still blushing. Kokichi just laughed and got up. 

"You can put the TV on whatever you want, I'm going to go get some soda." He said, grabbing his wallet, keys, phone from his room and then slipping into his shoes and leaving. 

After the door closed behind him, Kaito turned to face Shuichi. "Is he always like that?" 

"I'm not sure, but he did a similar thing earlier, so perhaps." Shuichi said. The three of them eventually decided to turn off the TV and snoop around, though Shuichi assured the others that it was _not_ 'snooping' and he was just trying to figure Kokichi out based on his belongings. The first thing Shuichi noticed when he stepped into Kokichi's room was a mass of cardboard boxes, each filled to the brim. As he looked through them he realized that it was a combination of binders, notebooks, loose-leaf paper, maps, and various trinkets of all shapes and sizes, including an over-sized red jingle bell clearly meant to be used as a Christmas decoration. The most curious part about the bell was not its size or color, it was the name engraved in it. "'Carolina Moore, 1998'." Shuichi read. "Huh, looks like it's from somewhere in Europe, or perhaps it's from the US or Canada." 

"That's weird." Kaito said from where he sat on the floor, watching Shuichi and Maki dig through the boxes. Well, Maki was reading the binders and journals while Shuichi did the digging. 

"No kidding. And judging by the engraving, this was a gift. I wonder why he'd have something like this?" 

"Maybe he stole it?" Kaito offered. 

"Or, someone else stole it and gave it to him." Maki said. "Check out the box. It's got 'DICE' written on it." Shuichi looked and, sure enough, 'DICE' and a logo were written on the side of the box in red marker. Just then, Shuichi noticed something near the bottom of the box. He picked it up and realized it was a photo. The photo depicted eleven kids, including a younger Kokichi chasing each other around in a game of tag. But what struck Shuichi as odd was not the children, it was a teenager that looked similar to Kokichi reflected some glass. He appeared to be the one taking the picture. 

"Huh, does Kokichi have an older brother?" Shuichi wondered aloud. He put everything away and the trio went back to the living room to wait for Kokichi to return, all agreeing not to talk about them snooping around Kokichi's room. They didn't have to wait long before Kokichi burst into the apartment, kicked off his shoes and handed Shuichi a bottle of grape soda before opening his own. 

"I hope grape soda's fine, Shumai, it's my favorite so I went with it since if you didn't want it, I knew I'd like it." He smiled brightly before heading into the kitchen to set the small bag items he'd (hopefully) purchased down. 

"Um, thanks?" Shuichi said before opening the soda. To his surprise, it didn't explode all over him, making him look like an absolute fool for bracing himself. Shuichi heard a click followed by Kokichi giggling in the background and light hurried footsteps going into Kokichi's room. " _Bitch_." He muttered under his breath, Maki heard and smiled slightly, something that was quite rare for her. After several more minutes, Kokich i came out of his room, his bottle of soda almost completely gone. 

"Hey, Oma." Kaito said. "Before you left when you were talking about not getting caught stealing, you made sure to mention that you _aren't_ a thief. Which, no offense, sounds like something a thief would say." 

"Nishishishishishi!~" Kokichi laughed, somewhat unnervingly. He finished his soda and tossed the empty bottle onto that table next to the chair Shuichi was sitting in. "You got me! Yup, I'm a thief! And I'm not just _any_ thief!" He smiled and struck a pose similar to what you'd see a storybook villain do. "I'm the Checkerboard Phantom! A menace to the whole world! I might just be thieving in Japan for now, but if Saihara-chan doesn't capture me soon I'll start stealing from the rest of the world too!" He said in an overdramatic supervillain voice.

"I should've known that you wouldn't give us a real answer." Maki said with a frustrated sigh. 

"Hey, you can't expect people to change for you, you know." Kokichi said before picking up Checkers and walking back into his room.


	3. Shuichi and the Checkerboard Phantom!

It had been several hours since Maki and Kaito left, but Kokichi hadn't left his room yet. The door was locked but the lights were on so he knew Kokichi wasn't asleep. The sun was already setting and Shuichi was getting worried. He'd call out occasionally but rarely got any kind of response. He decide to cook dinner to keep his mind off of it. He looked at what they had and was quite disappointed to find that he could either make the same thing he had for lunch― spaghetti noodles and alfredo sauce― or he could attempt to turn the few remaining ingredients into something else. Not really feeling like having the same thing twice in a row, he looked up a recipe and somehow found himself making the same thing he had for lunch just with chunks of artificial crab. He decided to make enough for Kokichi to have some too, unsure of if he would even come out of his room for dinner. Nonetheless, he called to him and in a matter of minutes, Kokichi was out of his room, wolfing down his food. "Don't forget to breathe!" Shuichi yelped as he realized that Kokichi had almost finished is food in a matter of minutes. Surprisingly enough, Kokichi listened and slowed down. "So, what were you doing?" He asked Kokichi. 

"Fixing the mess you made of my room." Kokichi snapped. 

"Huh?" Shuichi was taken aback. _"He knows we were in his room?"_

"I don't know why you're so surprised. It was your idea after all, wasn't it?" 

"How did you―" 

Kokichi laughed. "You guys didn't even _try_ with putting things back properly and _you_ are the only one who'd come up with the idea to search my room like some kind of bloodhound." He seemed disgusted. "Don't you know I hate dogs?" He said. "Just kidding! That was a _lie_! Dogs are just as cool as cats. And if you disagree..." He paused ominously. "Well, you'll find out. So don't argue with my opinion, Shumai.~" He giggled before finishing his food and leaving to get ready for bed. 

"Maki was right, he _is_ just like a little kid." Shuichi said quietly to himself. He finished up his own dinner and took his and Kokichi's dishes to the kitchen to wash them.

—•—

It had been about a half hour since Kokichi had gone back to his room and Shuichi was about ready to change into his pajamas and do the same when he got a text from one of the other detectives at his agency. 'Museum guard thought he saw our thief, get to the scene pronto.' Along with the location. Before he could even think, he grabbed his keys and wallet, ran to the door, slipped on his shoes, and bolted through the quiet apartment, barely remembering to lock the door behind him. If it weren't for traffic laws, he'd have been there in around two minutes max, but because of speed limits and traffic lights, he got there in five. For some, the three minute delay probably seemed like nothing, but for Shuichi, it was as good as an hour. The thief always made themself known either before or after their crime, yet no one was able to catch them. The closest someone came to catching the phantom thief was a regular citizen who happened to be fast _and_ have good stamina. He helped without permission and almost caught the thief but was tripped by said thief. The man had said that the thief had no face, just a creepy smile. A guard from the second theft said the thief had on a mask reminiscent of a clown, so Shuichi was pretty sure that that was what the man had seen, though he couldn't be sure, because the citizen was killed in a car crash before he could be questioned further. "Do we know where he is?" Shuichi asked. 

"No, we lost him." One of the officers said. "But we've got the place surrounded so he can't leave. Not this time." Shuichi nodded and hurried along at a brisk walk, trying to preserve his energy for if he encountered the thief. No, not 'if', ' _when_ '. He wasn't going to lose. It was just like the officer had said. _"Not this time."_ That was all that was on his mind as he entered the museum. The place was beautiful but Shuichi didn't have time to marvel over it. He _had_ to find the thief. And he did. As he crossed the grand entrance room, something hit him. Out of instinct, he looked at it and saw that it was a small paper airplane made from a neon pink index card. A little heart was drawn on one of the wings. After seeing this, he looked over at where it was thrown from and saw his target sitting on the railing of the balcony that connected the first and second floors of the entrance hall. Said target was fairly short, clad in slightly loose and slightly torn white clothes that reminded Shuichi of a straight jacket. Buttons of all different colors adorned what was either a shirt or jacket, along with what looked like metal clips. The thief had black boots and gloves, as well as a matching hat and cape. Their hair was tied back with a black and white checkered ribbon and the dim lighting made it hard to see the color. All Shuchi knew was that they had dark hair with a few loose strands across their mask— a dark grey thing with a smile painted on. Said smile was unnaturally wide. The mask also had eyes painted on that completed the terrifying smile look and made it damn near impossible to tell where the holes for the thief to see out of were on the mask. And, of course, the thief had their checkered scarf. 

"You—!" Shuichi snarled and ran towards the stairs. The thief watched but didn't move until Shuichi had reached the top of the stairs. And even then, their only action was kicking their feet back over the rail so that they were facing Shuichi. "I don't know _what_ you stole, if you've even stolen anything yet, but give it back. You may be a criminal, but I don't want to hurt you if I don't have to. So just give up." The thief tilted their head and quietly chuckled before standing up. Shuichi was a little taken aback by how short the thief actually _was_. He was similar in height to Kokichi and for a second, Shuichi wondered if _he_ was behind the mask and scarf. _"No, it's not him. Kokichi's asleep."_ He thought, shaking his head slightly as he shook the thought from his mind. The thief seemed more confused, at least Shuichi _thought_ they did. He couldn't be sure thanks to the perpetual smile of the mask. Suddenly, the thief took a step _closer_ to Shuichi. Startling the detective and causing him to take a step back. Unfortunatley, he had forgoten about the staircase and tripped, almost falling, only to have his hand caught by the thief. Shuichi let out a sort of gasp in response without really meaning to. The thief made sure he wouldn't fall before letting go of Shuichi's hand. "Thank you." Shuichi said, bewildered. It felt strange to be thanking a thief— a thief he'd been chasing after for a year and a half now. But the thief had just saved him. If they hadn't grabbed him, he would've fallen and been seriously injured. The thief giggled before bowing and running off. "H-hey, wait!" Shuichi called, getting up and running after them. But as per usual, they were gone before Shuichi could even get close. He looked for them for several minutes before forcing himself to give up and signal that the thief had escaped. 

"How did that damn criminal escape _again_?" One of the officers roared. "Damnit, Saihara! What the _fuck_ happened in there?!" 

"Don't get upset at him, officer." Shuichi's boss, Miss Kirigiri said, crossing her arms as she approached. "I'm certain that he did his job perfectly. We, as a whole, are at fault. It is clear that we need to change our tactic. For now, see what was stolen. And Saihara," she turned to him, "go get some rest. I'll need you at the agency 8 am." 

"Thank you, Miss." He said before leaving, secretly worrying that if anyone found out that he touched the thief yet didn't catch them, he'd be removed from the case. The case was all he had. The last time he'd been on such a major case, he was an intern at his now late uncle's detective agency. Of course, that wasn't particularly long ago— it had happened two years prior to the first robbery of the current case— and he wasn't _supposed_ to be on that case. He'd just connected a few dots that turned out the be that missing link his uncle needed to solve the case.


	4. Back to Our Little Purple Pest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think now's a good time to say that Shuichi's 19 and Kokichi's 18. Despite Shuichi being young, he's considered a prodigy. Kokichi has no such title, he's just a really good thief.

Kokichi was roused from his sleep by his roommate's alarm. Well, to be more prescise, he was roused from his sleep by Shuichi turning off his alarm. After the alarm stopped beeping, Kokichi felt Shuichi stop. Maybe it was because he was curled up next to and slightly on Shuichi or maybe because Kokichi was in nothing but his obnixious underware. Kokichi decided that it was probably both. "Kokichi? What are you doing?" Shuichi asked, groggy. Kokichi didn't respond, he just moved closer to Shuichi so that his cheek was pressed against Shuichi's shoulder. Shuichi pried Kokichi off of him and, for no reason other than because it felt right, Kokichi let a quiet, satisfied noise slip through his lips as he opened his eyes. 

"Shumai.~" He cooed, grabbing his roommate's hand. "Last night was so fun. We should do that again some time." Somehow, turning his encounter with Shuichi at the museum last night into something sexual felt right. Maybe because Shuichi would never know he was talking about his successful theft and would therefore be completely venerable. "And the noise you made when I grabbed you, I would _love_ to hear it again." 

"K-Kokichi!" Shuichi spluttered, clearly trying to think of what to say. Based on the worry in Shuichi's groggy eyes, he couldn't tell if Kokichi was simply fucking with him or the two had actually fucked at some point in the night. Seeing his reaction made Kokichi giggle and the realization that it was the former hit Shuichi like a brick wall. "Kokichi! That wasn't funny!" 

"Yes it was." Kokichi purred, looking up at the detective with a smile on his face, completely masking his exaustion. "You should get ready and go to work. You shouldn't keep your boss waiting." 

"How did you know Miss Kirigiri wanted to talk to me?" Shuichi asked, alarmed. 

Kokichi obviously couldn't tell him that he'd overheard while hiding from Shuichi and his coworkers, so he lied. "Just a hunch." He said with a playful shrug. "Now go get ready or I'll undress you myself." He added, winking. Shuichi's face reddened and he quickly hurried of to the bathroom for a shower, forgetting to grab any clothes thanks to his embarrassment. Kokichi decided to be nice (and maybe see Shuichi naked) and picked out an appropriate outfit for the detective. This outfit being a white button-up shirt, a dark blue vest, and dark blue dress pants. He then grabbed a pair of Shuichi's underwear, started to question his choices, and headed to the bathroom where he very quietly opened the door and placed the clothes inside along with a sticky-note with a heart on it, and left just as quietly as he entered, having decided to go through with his plan but give his roommate some decency. He wasn't heartless, after all. Just a bit thirsty. Kokichi yawned, realizing just how tired he really _was_. He was usually pretty tired after a heist, but he also usually slept in. Despite this, he decided to get ready for the day. He went to his room, made sure his scarf was really well hidden again, and threw on some black sweatpants and a lavender t-shirt before going to the kitchen and making breakfast, filling Checkers' bowl first, of course. It was 6:45 am so the sun hadn't risen yet. Well, it _had_ , it just hadn't risen enough to wake the cat up and Kokichi felt a little lonely without Checkers trying to steal his food. He decided to counter-act his loneliness and boredom by talking to the other members of DICE, his "evil" organization. 

**Leader Koki**

Are any of you guys up? 

**Leader Koki**

I'm lonely and bored and I want to talk to someone. ****

After about fifteen minutes of nobody responding he sighed dramatically. Fortunatley, Checkers had just woken up and ran over to him, a little disappointed that Kokichi had already finished his food. "You have your own food, cutie." He said, reaching out and petting the cat's head.

"The note was unnecessary, Kokichi." Shuichi said, startling Kokichi. 

"What note?" Kokichi said, smiling innocently. 

"It's too early for this." Shuichi sighed and went to make his own breakfast. Kokichi followed and put his plate in the sink before leaning against the wall and watching Shuichi. He was specifically focused on Shuichi's damp hair. 

_"He looks so cute with his hair not sticking up."_ Kokichi noted before adding, _"He_ always _looks cute, though."_ A small, genuine smile crept over Kokichi's face as he watched Shuichi. "You look really pretty." He said, without actually thinking. 

"Um... Thanks?" Shuichi responded. 

Kokichi tried to stop himself from embarassing himself but he failed and kept talking. "Can I touch your hair?" 

"What?" 

"I want to touch your hair, Saihara-chan.~" Kokichi purred. 

"W-why?" Shuichi asked, sounding a little nervous.

"Because," Kokichi said softly, taking a few steps closer to Shuichi, "it looks soft. It _always_ looks soft." He added reaching a hand out in a trance. 

"Kokichi!" Shuichi slapped his hand away. "Stop it!" Kokichi froze and realized what he was doing. He had been so caught up in admiring the detective's hair that he'd failed to restrain himself. 

"I'm sorry...." He said, moving away. Tears welled up in his eyes and he tried desperately to wipe them away. "This is why I like to live alone." He mumbled before sprinting off, leaving the apartment, picking up Checkers along the way. 

"Kokichi, wait!" He heard Shuichi yell from behind him. But he didn't slow, his face was red from embarrassment and his eyes were filled with tears, but he ran anyway and didn't stop until he was safely hidden in the abandoned night club that DICE had turned into their headquarters. He closed the door and set Checkers down before walking over to the old bar and sitting on top of it with his feet on one of the barstools and his chin on his knees. He sighed and closed his eyes, thinking about the interaction he'd just had with Shuichi. 

_"He probably hates me."_ He thought, wrapping his arms around his legs. "Geez, I just had to go and get carried away." He muttered. _"I wanted him to get to know me so that he knew I wasn't just some evil thief."_ He tightened his grip on his legs. "I guess I failed." He laughed in an attempt to make himself feel better, but it only made him feel worse. He wasn't even wiping the tears away anymore. For the first time in a while, he let his emotions out. He hadn't cried this hard since his older brother died in a car crash with the very person who had almost caught him in one of his earlier heists. No one had come that close since. And less then a week later, he was in his car, driving drunk, and killed Kokichi's older brother. After that, Kokichi decided to take over in leading DICE and, in order to keep everyone's spirits high, he masked his emotions more than ever. And eventually, it became a habit. A habit that Shuichi broke. 

Meeting Shuichi as a regular person meeting a regular person made him realize that the excitement he felt from being chased by the detective wasn't just some sort of adrenaline, it was love. And something about being able to talk to the detective without having to worry about being caught made it hard to control his emotions. Sure, he kept lying, but he also was a bit more open with how he really felt. But now he knew that nothing good came of it. He'd let his love control him and he ruined everything. He tightened his grip even more, but he wasn't crying. He _couldn't_ cry. It was like he'd cried so hard that his eyes stopped making tears. He got up and wiped off his cheeks before walking to a back room where he kept his thief uniform and an extra scarf, in case he lost the other one. He pulled a key from a pocket in the uniform and unlocked the secret door his brother had installed not long before he died. Inside the room were crates and boxes of stolen goods. Some of the goods he'd traded for money, but most he'd kept. At the back of the room a cork board covered in photos and news clippings hung on the wall. Among these was a photo of DICE at their best. All twelve members had managed to take a selfie using a polaroid camera. Halfway through Kokichi's first year of highschool, their youngest member's foster family moved out of the country, making the members of DICE sad. Fortunatley, Kokichi's brother always knew how to cheer the group up and the remaining eleven of them started playing Dungeons & Dragons. They had just started their third D&D campaign when Kokichi's brother died, replacing the group's DM with an empty void of sadness. That was when Kokichi became DICE's official leader, though he couldn't cheer the group up and one of the members commited suicide, leaving them with nine people, their current count. 

Kokichi felt tears roll down his face again as he looked at the picture. In a fit of sadness, he decided to do something risky and steal something from the people who took away the things he loved most. He grabbed his uniform, pulled his hair back, and put on the, boots, shirt, and pants. He put the other items in his bag before setting off to the house where the man who'd killed his brother worked. Well, it was only his family who worked their now. But since it was a family owned jewelry store, his revenge would still work. He ducked into the alley and put on the cloak, hat, gloves, mask, and scarf and then waltzed into the store, terrifying the woman and twin teenage boys working. He smiled brightly from behind the mask and crossed the room to the counter. One of the boys darted into the back room and Kokichi could hear him call the police. Looking directly at the woman behind the counter, he pocketed a necklace and then hopped over the counter. "That's a nice ring you have there, Madam Widow." He said with a smirk, the voice changer in his mask making him impossible to recognize. 

"Please, don't t-take it!" She said, tears in her eyes and voice full of fear. "It's my wedding ring, the only thing I have left of my husband." 

"And that's why I want it." Kokichi hissed. "He took my brother from me so now I'll take _him_ from _you_!" He pulled a silver and amythest fake dagger from his pocket and pointed it at the woman. "Now hand it over, or else..." She shakily removed the ring and went to hand it to Kokichi when her son grabbed her wrist and kept her from handing it over. "Oh, brave aren't we?" 

"You're just some kid, aren't you?" He snapped, looking down at Kokichi. "We aren't gonna listen to you! You aren't even the Phantom Thief!" Kokichi laughed. "Huh, what's so funny?" 

"Your face." Kokichi said, before using the counter to give himself the boost he needed to kick the boy in the face. He snatched the ring and left the store, darting through the alley from before and scrambling over the wall in the middle of it. He took off his accessories and placed them in his bag, which he'd picked up as he ran back through the alley. He looked at the ring and placed it on top of the wall with a sticky note depicting a smiley face, before leaving the area and heading back to DICE's headquarters, where he changed back into his usual outfit and placed his uniform back in its box. He then went and played with Checkers for several hours. Or maybe it was just a few minutes, Kokichi didn't know since he didn't bother to look at the clock or his phone.


	5. The Pieces of the Puzzle Click

Shuichi sat down with a sigh and stared at his cup of coffee. Someone pretending to be the Checkered Phantom had robbed a jewelry store, stealing only a necklace. The owner's wedding ring had been stolen too, but was found in a nearby alley on light blue sticky note. The criminal was clearly just trying to cause mayhem but they'd still stolen something so they'd almost certainly be given the same punishment as if they'd just kept the ring. The case had done a pretty good job at taking Shuichi's mind off Kokichi, but now that he was back at his desk, staring at his reflection in coffee, he couldn't help but think of him. _"He's been a mystery since we met but this is just crazy. I mean, running away in tears after I kept him from touching my hair? He's mad. But..."_ Shuichi sighed and drank some of his coffee. _"I'm worried about him."_

"Any luck figuring out where your phantom thief's going to strike next?" One of his coworkers asked. "Or are you still helping with that jewelry robbery?" 

"Hm?" Shuichi snapped back to reality. "Oh, uh, I'm working on it." He said. 

"Well, don't over work yourself." His coworker smiled. "Kirigiri's gonna need your help when your thief next shows. It'll be pretty bad if you're all burned out by then." 

"I'll be fine." Shuichi said, turning back to his work. _"Thief first, Kokichi later."_ He thought as he opened the file for the latest heist. He looked it over and sighed before picking up the copy of the drawing that had been made of the Checkered Phantom based on what Shuichi saw. "How did you escape?" He muttered. The thief had deactivated the security cameras before the heist so all anyone knew was that they'd ran around a corner and were gone. _"There was no time for them to escape."_ Shuichi thought. _"They had to have hid and waited. But that's not possible. There was no where to hide and I checked that part of the museum thoroughly!"_ He tightened his grip on his coffee, almost destroying the cup. "They could've only gone through a window but all of the windows were locked and too high up." He hissed. With a frustrated gulp, he finished his coffee and threw out the cup. _"And there was no sign of a ladder or rope— not that there was anything you could tie a rope to."_ He added internally. He looked at what he'd written and realized just how disorganized it was. It was easy to tell he was stressing over the case and maybe that's why Kirigiri, who was standing behind Shuichi, spoke up. 

"Did something happen?" Shuichi jumped, having not realized that she had walked over. 

"What do you mean?" Shuichi asked. 

"Something's stressing you out and I don't think it's the case." She said. "I care about my detectives' health, and stress can do a number on someone. If you need a break, take one. You've been working hard lately." She smiled and then walked away. 

_"Take a break?"_ Shuichi thought. _"I can't do that! This is a serious case that needs to be solved quickly!"_ He continued working, unaware of his preformance declining as his stress built up. Evening came and Shuichi finally realized that he had just been thinking in circles, getting nowhere with his logic. He sighed and put everything away before leaving. As he left, he stopped and looked back at the bright pink paper airplane that sat on his desk. He'd been given permission to keep it for closer examination though it hadn't proved useful. Despite that, he placed it back into an evidence bag and took it with him. He had a strange hunch that it was going to be a useful clue and that he needed it with him. He didn't usually get hunches, and when he did, he didn't usually listen to them. But right now, anything was better then what he'd acomplished thus far.

—•—

Shuichi hurried back to his apartment, hoping he'd find Kokichi there. He closed the door behind him and called for his roommate. "Kokichi?" There was no response. The apartment was silent. Without even looking around, Shuichi knew that Kokichi was still gone. He tried calling him but he didn't answer. He prayed that Kokichi would be back soon as he sat down on the couch. Just then, something caught his eye. The 'note' Kokichi had left that morning was sitting on the coffee table. Shuichi picked up the sticky note and stared at the heart for a moment. Something clicked in his mind and he pulled out the paper plane from his bag and compared the two hearts closely. "No way... This has to be a coincidence." He said as he looked at the two nearly identical hearts. And yet, it all made since. Kokichi's initial reaction to him, the ring that looked just like the one that had been stolen by the Checkered Phantom, the thief's short height and slim figure, the matching hearts. It all fit just a little _too_ well. "No. Kokichi's not a thief." He said. "He's weird but he's not a thief. He was lying about being the Checkered Phantom." He held his head in his hands, overwhelmed by the idea. "Come on Kokichi... Show up! Tell me I'm wrong! Tell me you aren't who I've been chasing! _Please_!" 

Tears welled up in his eyes as the idea that _Oma Kokichi_ was the Checkered Phantom plagued his mind. " _Please_! _Please_ , Kokichi. I'm sorry, just come tell me I'm wrong! I don't want you to be a criminal!" He knew it was useless, Kokichi wasn't there, he couldn't hear Shuichi. After several minutes of crying, Shuichi managed to regain his composure. _"If he's_ really _the Checkered Phantom, he'll have the scarf."_ Shuichi thought, hurrying to Kokichi's room. He dug through the boxes for at least an hour before collapsing onto Kokichi's bed with a smile. _Nothing_. And then he froze. A small part of the wall above the bed seemed unnatural. He forced himself up and investigated it. Sure enough, there was what looked to be a small door disguised to look like the rest of the wall. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach but continued investigating anyway. He was a detective, he couldn't just ignore this. As he searched his fingers pressed into the wall and the panel swung open to reveal a small safe. Said safe was locked with a key pad and Shuichi carefully examined it before remembering something he saw in a game. He went into his room and retreived some fingerprinting dust he had and sprinkled it on the safe before carefully brushing the excess off. Within a matter of moments he opened the safe to reveal another slightly smaller safe. 

This second safe had a strange lock unlike one Shuichi had ever seen before. This lock was a puzzle. After another hour, Shuichi heard a soft click as he finaly got the puzzle right. Inside the safe was a jewelry box being held closed with a lock you might find on a diary. There was no key in sight and Shuichi hadn't found one while he was practically turning the room upside-down. He took the box from the safe and examined it carefully. The only way to get into the box was to destroy _it_ or the lock. That, or he could get someone to pick to lock. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Maki, you can pick locks, right?" 

"Yes. Why do you need me to pick a lock at five minutes to eleven?" She answered. 

"I have a theory and I might be able prove that it's wrong. But in order to do that, I need to get into a box. It's not a very sturdy lock but I'm trying not to break things." 

Shuichi heard he sigh. "Fine. Where are you?" 

—•—

"A jewelry box?" Maki said, sounding a little disapointed as she looked at it. "Whatever." She had the lock open in no time and passed the box back to Shuichi. "Why do you want your theory to be wrong?" She asked. 

"Because if I'm right, that means Kokichi's the thief I'm after." He sighed. "He's a little odd but I was looking forward to getting to know him a little better." 

"I see..." Shuichi removed the lock and opened the box to find it completely empty. "I guess that proves your theory wrong." Maki said, standing up, clearly wanting to go home. Shuichi gave a nod and she left, but it was easy to tell that something was off. 

_"Why would Kokichi keep this box so secure if it were empty. There must've been something in it."_ He jumped as he heard his phone ding. A text. He looked at it to find a picture of a door from an unknown number along with a heart and a string of binary code. He knew right away that this was a hint from the Checkered Phantom about where the thief would be next.


End file.
